Family says thefts from grave preventing closure and healing

Thieves have targeted this grave multiple times.

TUSCUMBIA, AL (WAFF) -

A Colbert County family says that thieves have targeted a small cemetery for long enough and they want them to stop.

Pauline Smallwood said her family likes to keep her granddaughter's gravesite decorated, as a way to help the family cope with the sudden loss of the 24-month-old toddler three years ago. But ever since the toddler was laid to rest, thieves have targeted the gravesite, taking hooks, angels and chimes, and breaking items they cannot pull up.

"When you come back up here and see that it's gone, it is so painful and hurtful because it seems like every time anything's missing, we're constantly going back a step instead of trying to go forward with this," said Smallwood.

Smallwood and her daughter Teresa Cagle are pleading with the thieves to let the little girl rest in peace.

"Please stop. Leave it alone. The baby's never hurt anybody. If they need things, we'd buy it for them before they have to come and steal it. All they have to do is say ‘Where did you find that,' or ‘Can I borrow some money to go and buy me one?' I'd be more than glad to," said Smallwood.

She also has a message for those responsible. "I don't know who they are, but God does. My mama always told me; don't do anything bad to anyone, because it will come around."

(Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File). FILE - In this May 22, 2018 file photo, actor Morgan Freeman attends the 2018 PEN Literary Gala in New York. Freeman is apologizing to anyone who may have felt “uncomfortable or disrespected” by his behavior....

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Actor Morgan Freeman has apologized for making anyone feel uneasy, in the wake of a CNN report in which multiple women accused him of sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior.More >>